My Top 1000 Songs #389: I'm Amazed

[I've been writing up my Top 1000 songs on a daily basis--you can see them all in descending order by hitting the All My Favorite Songs tag.]

Here's another one on the relatively short list of Rock & Roll Spirituals for those of us who don't fancy ourselves as consumers of spiritual music.

"I'm Amazed," off My Morning Jacket's 2008 epic Evil Urges, manages to capture the booming arena rock hugeness of the band's live shows [saw them for the umpteenth time last week, and they were reliably breathtaking], somehow boiling it down to a bite-sized single without losing any of the energy and scope. There's a catchy hook, the band's telltale wall-of-reverb, and Jim James laying down the law on faith (and lack of such). "I'm amazed at the lack of faith. I'm amazed, at the love we're rejecting; I'm amazed, what we accept in its place."

The embrace of something greater, coupled with an ambiguity as to whether or not there's hope for us, makes for a soul-stirring listen every time... while insistently demanding you crank it up just a little louder.

Live on Letterman, 2010:

Live, Climate Change benefit, 2021: